reviews
Jul 03, 2008
Jessica
rated it: 
I see this edition is actually a postcard book, but I wanted to review The Secret of the Old Clock with its proper cover.
This was the first chapter book I ever read. I have a very clear memory of my mom giving it to me in the car on the way back from Palo Alto, which can't possibly be correct because she wouldn't have handed me a book while driving on the freeway. Maybe she gave it to me before we started driving, and I was reading it in the car? It's kind of a mystery.
An More...
This was the first chapter book I ever read. I have a very clear memory of my mom giving it to me in the car on the way back from Palo Alto, which can't possibly be correct because she wouldn't have handed me a book while driving on the freeway. Maybe she gave it to me before we started driving, and I was reading it in the car? It's kind of a mystery.
An More...
12 comments
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(17 people liked it)
Jul 16, 2008
Summer
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I want to give this a five because of the enormous impact it's had on the popular imagination, and because it's the first book in a series that features a female main character who is smart and brave and rescues her boyfriend instead of the other way around, and because I read it about 100000 times when I was a kid, but the writing is just so bad. One thing that never struck me before: why are there so many pairs of siblings in this book? Two aging sisters, two aging brothers, two young sisters,
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2 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
Cheryl
rated it: 
I think Nancy drew was the beginning of the end for me. Her adventures and the mysteries that she solved made me yearn to solve my own. This made me inquisitive, leading to a job as a journalist at 14. It also made me want to write.
And here I am...just a few years later (Ok, more than a few), and I'm a writer of suspense, mysteries and thrillers! :) Go figure.
I recommend this book for pre-teens and young teens. It's a great escape. And for women who want to remember a pi More...
And here I am...just a few years later (Ok, more than a few), and I'm a writer of suspense, mysteries and thrillers! :) Go figure.
I recommend this book for pre-teens and young teens. It's a great escape. And for women who want to remember a pi More...
0 comments
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Mar 23, 2011
Melanie
rated it: 
How can you work on a girls' mystery series project and *not* read Nancy Drew? I don't think you can, so my inaugural Nancy is the 1938 printing of ND #1. How did I not read this book as a child?
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Hmmm...I wish I had read Nancy for the first time as a kid, because I think I would have loved her then: she's spunky, independent, and ready to right the world's injustices. As an adult, though, I couldn't quite get past the fact that the injustices Nancy set out to resolve More...
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Hmmm...I wish I had read Nancy for the first time as a kid, because I think I would have loved her then: she's spunky, independent, and ready to right the world's injustices. As an adult, though, I couldn't quite get past the fact that the injustices Nancy set out to resolve More...
2 comments
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Sep 02, 2011
Elizabeth
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I remember the first time I read this series. I was 8 and they were my older cousins so I wanted to read them to. (I wanted to be just like her and do everything she did.). As soon as I started reading it I was OBSESSED. I LOVED this series! it took me about 3 months to read all the books the local library had, and I started requesting them for birthday gifts ETc. I own almost the whole series, and I will never get rid of them. I want to pass them on to my own kids someday.
I wouldn’t More...
I wouldn’t More...
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Jul 01, 2009
☆Brittany☆
rated it:
Honestly reading this book as an adult was almost brutal. Nancy's whole demeanor/thoughts/words used etc were just so cheesy.
BUT, I read quite a few Nancy Drew books during my preteen years & I absolutely LOVED them. I loved them enough to never part with the books & if I find the "old style" edition of a Nancy Drew book that I don't have I buy it, still.
So, I am giving the book 5 stars because when I was a kid I really did think these books were amazing. Now, as an adult, More...
BUT, I read quite a few Nancy Drew books during my preteen years & I absolutely LOVED them. I loved them enough to never part with the books & if I find the "old style" edition of a Nancy Drew book that I don't have I buy it, still.
So, I am giving the book 5 stars because when I was a kid I really did think these books were amazing. Now, as an adult, More...
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 13, 2008
Christina
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When a young girl, Judy, is almost hit by a large moving van and falls off a bridge in her attempt to avoid being hit, eighteen-year-old Nancy Drew quickly rescue the girl and brings her back to Judy’s home, which she shares with her Great Aunts Mary Edna Turner. The two elderly ladies share with Nancy that they don’t have a lot of money, especially since their promised inheritance from Josiah Crowley fell through. Mr. Crowley’s fortune was willed to the snobby, rude, and already rich Topham fam
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Jan 09, 2012
Paul
rated it:
by Carolyn Keene, published in 1959.
This is the first Nancy Drew mystery, and also happens to be the first one I’ve ever read. And it was not as bad as I thought it might have been. It was quite a departure from Science Fiction and Fantasy - my mainstays - for sure.
Nancy is a young sleuth very much interested in solving mysteries. Her father, a lawyer, is a great aid for her as eh has the legal slant on all the things she is trying to do as well as sagely advice when Nancy ne More...
This is the first Nancy Drew mystery, and also happens to be the first one I’ve ever read. And it was not as bad as I thought it might have been. It was quite a departure from Science Fiction and Fantasy - my mainstays - for sure.
Nancy is a young sleuth very much interested in solving mysteries. Her father, a lawyer, is a great aid for her as eh has the legal slant on all the things she is trying to do as well as sagely advice when Nancy ne More...
Nov 14, 2011
Laura
rated it:
“Nancy Drew” is what drew me in to the world of writing. It’s the series that started it all, so to say it inspires me is putting it mildly. I choose to review this particular book because it is the one that started it all. Carolyn Keene—the original Carolyn Keene, since I did notice a difference when it changed hands—writes a book that starts young readers out in getting hooked on the genre of mystery. In this particular book we are first introduced to the young 18-year-old sleuth, Nancy Drew,
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Jul 02, 2011
Ryan
rated it:
Can I say how excited I was to read my first Nancy Drew book since about the 5th grade. I devoured these book throughout the school year and I really think Nancy gets some of the credit for my lifelong love affair with mysteries.
Underneath that excitement was just a small amount of fear. I haven't read this book in 25 years so I was scared that it wouldn't live up to the memory. It wouldn't be the first time that I reread a book I loved when I was younger only to find out that I rea More...
Underneath that excitement was just a small amount of fear. I haven't read this book in 25 years so I was scared that it wouldn't live up to the memory. It wouldn't be the first time that I reread a book I loved when I was younger only to find out that I rea More...
Jun 15, 2011
I recently saw a local ad for a 1959 set of nearly sixty Nancy Drew books and roughly the same number of Hardy Boys books in excellent condition at a great price. I'll admit that I was tempted to buy them, but I already have boxes of books that our current bookshelves can't accommodate, so to add over a hundred additional volumes at once seemed foolish. Plus, I've not revisited these books since my youth, and I suspect that they might not fare so well when read as an adult. I did a little pok
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Jun 08, 2011
Jeremy
rated it:
I found these reprints of the 1930 versions of the Nancy Drew series, and read them side-by-side with the 1950s versions. What a fascinating exercise!
The standout difference, aside from the really appalling portrayal of the one black person in the early edition, was the addition in the 50s of a number of incidents that seem to be intended to heighten the tension, including an orphan child and her elderly caretakers who desperately need a chunk of the inheritance and a dog attack tha More...
The standout difference, aside from the really appalling portrayal of the one black person in the early edition, was the addition in the 50s of a number of incidents that seem to be intended to heighten the tension, including an orphan child and her elderly caretakers who desperately need a chunk of the inheritance and a dog attack tha More...
Nov 19, 2010
Bonnie
rated it:
Nancy Drew is a 18 year old girl that lives in River Heights. Nancy lives with her father, Carson Drew who is a attorney. Also at the home, the housekeeper named Hannah Gruen, kind of takes the motherly role of the home. Nancy's mother died when she was a little child. She loves sluething around and when a mystery about a man named Josiah Crowley died, she wanted to find the real will he had in store for his friends and family, not the one that left already rich Topham family all of his pos
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Nov 15, 2010
Whitney
rated it:
Young girl sleuth, Nancy Drew is introduced in 1930 with The Secret of the Old Clock, the first in the classic mystery series. After aiding an injured child Nancy stumbles upon the mystery of Josiah Crowley's missing will. Josiah promised several members of his family that he would include them in his will but upon his death they were all omitted leaving everything to a snobby relations who claim to hold the only copy. Nancy sees the unjustness of the situation and feeling that something is n
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Sep 06, 2010
Alexis
rated it:
Wow, Nancy Drew... haven't read these in a while. At my bookstore they have every single Nancy Drew book ever made, besides the original ones. I really want to get my hands on one of those, by the way. But I can't seem to find them anywhere. Does anyone know? Comment if you do.
Anyways, in this book Nancy Drew has to locate a missing will to help several families that are very poor. The book starts off with Nancy saving a little girl like it's her normal start of the morning. She meet More...
Anyways, in this book Nancy Drew has to locate a missing will to help several families that are very poor. The book starts off with Nancy saving a little girl like it's her normal start of the morning. She meet More...
Jun 22, 2010
Melissa
rated it:
Keene, Carolyn. Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1930. Print.
Genre: Children’s Chapter Book
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene is about a girl named Nancy drew that solves mysteries of other people. In this book Nancy Drew is solving the mystery of a missing antique clock in which she finds clues of a missing will. This book gives detailed illustrations to aide in the assistance of giving the reader a vision. This keeps their a More...
Genre: Children’s Chapter Book
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene is about a girl named Nancy drew that solves mysteries of other people. In this book Nancy Drew is solving the mystery of a missing antique clock in which she finds clues of a missing will. This book gives detailed illustrations to aide in the assistance of giving the reader a vision. This keeps their a More...
Jun 25, 2009
Tara
rated it:
I don't know if I can stress how much I enjoyed this series, and others like it as a child. I grew up reading the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, and Tom Swift. Most of these early editions were my mothers', some inherited from her father, saved and put away for her own children, just as I have saved them and put them away for my own. I loved the comraderie and inherent but not overwhelming morality of each story. Most of the bad guys were truly bad, and th
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May 02, 2009
Cathy
rated it:
Okay, I'll confess, I read the 1959 series, and for the most part, I prefer them. It has nothing to do with familiarity, it has everything to do with character development, setting up of the scenery and the cool cars everyone drove. Nancy had such a neat relationship with her dad, and it was so believable that he would allow her such responsibility. One longed for the ability to drive - and to drive a little roadster, have a relaxed relationship with a boyfriend, and use one's brain and not
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Feb 23, 2011
Hope
rated it:
I know that this book brings a lot of memories for a lot of readers out there. However I have to confess I have never read Nancy Drew books as a child, I was just not interested. I think that it has to do with the fact that I am not a big mystery reader. I mean I will read a mystery here and there; I never go out and seek out mystery books they usually find me. This is what happened with this book. I was at my friends house babysitting her cats and I forgot my book. So I searched her books
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Jul 13, 2009
Abigail
rated it:
Since the publication of The Secret of the Old Clock in 1930, the adventures of Nancy Drew have become an almost ubiquitous fixture in the landscape of American girlhood: continually in print, frequently revised and updated, and always immensely influential. I vividly recall the long row of yellow spines that was to be found on the shelf under "Keene, Carolyn" at my public library, and my sense that these books were somehow important. But despite my earnest desire to be a part of the N
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16 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 01, 2012
Caroline
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I love the Nancy Drew books!I used to read The Boxcar Children but when I started Nancy Drew, I couldn't believe how boring they seemed!(no offense Boxcar Children!)
The books are great! They are the type you could read out of order ,each book has nothing to do with each other but it isn't as entertaining to re read them I own a ton, but haven't returned to them once.
I also love the suspense! It makes you worry even though Nancy always manages to escape from the villain!
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The books are great! They are the type you could read out of order ,each book has nothing to do with each other but it isn't as entertaining to re read them I own a ton, but haven't returned to them once.
I also love the suspense! It makes you worry even though Nancy always manages to escape from the villain!
More...
4 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 18, 2011
Eden
rated it:
After delivering some papers to her father, Nancy Drew is driving on a country road and spots a young girl almost getting hit by a van. She goes to the girl's rescue when she falls into the water.
Nancy takes the young girl into her aunt's house and after some talking, Nancy learns that the family doesn't have very much money and that they were supposed to get an inheritance from Josiah Crowley. Nancy decides to take the mystery into her own hands.
This is my first time ever read More...
Nancy takes the young girl into her aunt's house and after some talking, Nancy learns that the family doesn't have very much money and that they were supposed to get an inheritance from Josiah Crowley. Nancy decides to take the mystery into her own hands.
This is my first time ever read More...
Oct 06, 2007
Shiloh
rated it:
This book represents all of the Nancy Drew books I read in the past! I love them so much. I started collecting all of the them in the same edition that I grew up reading (though mine were all library owned) and find reading some of them today, the betrayal of the characters that is a little biased (but probably reflective of the time they were written), but I still think they are good for every little girl to grow up with.
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Jun 17, 2009
Madeline
rated it:
the entire Nancy Drew series has good, well-thought out mysteries, but it's like a Norman Rockwell painting. Nancy is just too perfect, along with the rest of her life. Her father, friends, boyfriend and maid all act exactly like their supposed to. Pretty much the only fault you will find is that Bess is a little fat, which tends to get mentioned in a slightly different way every book. Chubby Beth, or slightly overwieght Beth, or enthusiastic eater Beth. After a few books you begin to see th
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Oct 23, 2011
Alex
rated it:
Growing up, I always loved to read the Nancy Drew books, so it was fun to go back and re-read the very first one in the series.
In "The Secret of the Old Clock", the reader meets Nancy Drew, daughter of the lawyer, Carson Drew. Nancy lives with her father and the housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. In the opening pages of the book, Nancy is driving along when she notices a young girl who almost gets hit by a moving truck. The little girl falls, and Nancy rescues her and takes her back More...
In "The Secret of the Old Clock", the reader meets Nancy Drew, daughter of the lawyer, Carson Drew. Nancy lives with her father and the housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. In the opening pages of the book, Nancy is driving along when she notices a young girl who almost gets hit by a moving truck. The little girl falls, and Nancy rescues her and takes her back More...
Apr 07, 2009
Bonny
rated it:
Every once in a while I like to read books I read when I was younger. I first started reading Nancy Drew books when I was in Grade 5 or 6 and tried reading all the ones available in the school library. (Which weren't that many.)These are classic stories for girls and I loved them! So when I found this one, I didn't think I had ever read it, and I hadn't.
Reading Nancy Drew again was like stepping back in time, but toward a time that seems more in the past than even the early '70's. A More...
Reading Nancy Drew again was like stepping back in time, but toward a time that seems more in the past than even the early '70's. A More...
Feb 09, 2012
Jordyn{readingmonster}
rated it:
This series holds a special place in my family. This was my moms favorite series when she was growing up, she still retreads them time to timewhen shes in the mood for a quick read. My two favorite aunts(who are obsessed with reading as much as I am) also read Nancy drew growing up. When I was 12 I spent a whole summer with my bff in her attic reading this whole series. I remember on rainy days we would gather blankets and pillows all on the floor and light a whole bunch of candles an read by ca
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 28, 2011
Simon
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I love this book despite how old it is or how it seems very juvenile, even though Nancy is my age.
I read it for the first time back in Grade 7 and I fell in Love with the series, I have made it a mission to own all of them (including the Hardy Boys) i have only managed to read up to the 9th book however, so now with the help of this website and my own determination, I will read all of them.
I think it is safe to say that some of the crimes committed in this book, couldn't happen More...
I read it for the first time back in Grade 7 and I fell in Love with the series, I have made it a mission to own all of them (including the Hardy Boys) i have only managed to read up to the 9th book however, so now with the help of this website and my own determination, I will read all of them.
I think it is safe to say that some of the crimes committed in this book, couldn't happen More...
Mar 25, 2011
Dorothy
rated it:
Hello Nancy Drew…
In the sixth grade at Theodore Roosevelt Grammar School in Cheektowaga, NY, my fate was sealed when I met Nancy Drew. I babysat on Saturdays for a family who lived on the next street. $1 earnings enabled me to ride the bus downtown, buy a Nancy Drew Mystery Story book for .59 cents, have a dime for bus fare each way and still have change for penny bubble gum at Gister’s, the neighborhood store! Twice a month I was allowed to make this excursion alone with severe mot More...
In the sixth grade at Theodore Roosevelt Grammar School in Cheektowaga, NY, my fate was sealed when I met Nancy Drew. I babysat on Saturdays for a family who lived on the next street. $1 earnings enabled me to ride the bus downtown, buy a Nancy Drew Mystery Story book for .59 cents, have a dime for bus fare each way and still have change for penny bubble gum at Gister’s, the neighborhood store! Twice a month I was allowed to make this excursion alone with severe mot More...
Jul 18, 2011
Kalen
rated it:
This book was apart of my "Young Peoples Literature After 1914" class and it was the first time I had ever read any Nancy Drew story. I found Nancy very flat in this version and a point my professor made was that Nancy was less flat in the original 1938 version. This is interesting because I thought it would have been other other way around so that the 1959 Nancy would have been less feminine than the 1938 version. Also I didn't like that the solution to the mystery is pretty much obvi
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